Walking Towards Compassion

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Assumptions ah that word, that action, the results. Let us speak about assumptions and consider what they are and why people do this. While I sit in my chair and see what people say and how they react to it and I feel sadness. I cannot understand how they can't see the harm they are inflicting on others. They assume and there are many things associated with that word.

Now the basic definition says that to assume means that you are uncertain, that you take for granted that it is true. By this very definition it means that you are not coming from a place of facts. So when you assume something about someone or something you are not in a place of truth. So by your very actions your cause people to assume that what you say is true.

What I ask is that people come from a place of truth. To look beyond what their friends and family tell them and to find out for themselves. This is the only way to live your life. You take the time to research things no matter who you hear it from. Because through your belief you may be causing someone pain. You may be causing someone to question themselves or their actions. I do not enjoy hearing assumptions from people. Many times what I hear is someone who is trying to bluff their way through things and this helps nobody.

I believe that we are here to help other people. That to assume that because someone is say interested in violent video games that they are violent in real life. That is an assumption. If someone is from the Middle East they are not automatically a threat or a danger to anyone. This is what I see the media broadcasting lately. Assumptions without proof. They have been doing it for years now and people just eat it up as if it were the finest buffet. Completely unaware of the harm things like this cause over time.

Take time to get to know people that look different than you. Extend a friendship to someone you think you may know fits into a certain category and find out for yourself. Do not risk the welfare and contentment that can come from the truth. There are so many resources out there. They are usually freely available and all you have to do is motivate yourself to go look.

Realize that you may be sheltered and protected in your world. Question all things. Simply because someone put on a suit and speaks with authority does not mean that they are right. Look to whom they speak for. Find out where the money is invested. Do not sit there passively certain that the world is a certain way. It is not the way you imagine. This world is filled to the brim with possibilities, challenges, friends, experiences and an amazing future.

We are a beautiful planet. We need to go find out the truth and stop pretending that everything is ok. It will be, it can be. But you must start searching for truth and start having a voice for people to hear. If not now then when. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2UywrjnOaUEDisclaimer: What I write is how I feel about things. I am not the expert on anything. Read and think for yourself. Know what you feel is correct and if you doubt me feel free to go find out for yourself.

Monday, February 18, 2013

Closing your eyes and centering yourself can be the most helpful passive thing that you can choose to do. During times like now when the world seems to be moving at such a quickened pace at the cost of quality. While people seem to have more demands and less patience it is time to fully understand meditation and its benefits. When you look around and watch things sometimes you can become overwhelmed by all of the sadness and anger and lack of compassion that you see. There is always hope however it may seem distant it is there. Focus on the positive things in life. There are so many that they should keep you busy for a long time. There is no need to panic, no need to lose yourself in this consumerist world. Slow down..
http://www.abundancetapestry.com/how-to-meditate-for-beginners-10-essential-tips/

Take a deep breath and relax your whole body. Stop trying so hard and find the beauty in stillness and a calm mind. You may be having thoughts at the moment. Some might be telling you that you can't do this. That this is too hard. That you can't sit still for that long and so on. Yes you can. It is in fact easier than you may know. Meditation does not ask that you sit still for hours at a time. This can be accomplished and can be seen in just a few days should you take the time to try.http://www.project-meditation.org/a_mt4/basic_meditation_techniques.html

Don't give up before you begin is what I always say. I used to be one of those people that said *no i can't do this my mind races and i can't sit still for that long* Then I tried. I sat for as long as I could and tried to relax and it did not work the first few times I did it. But then after a while It did begin to work. I learned to breathe from my stomach instead of from my chest. That helped me significantly. For years I had been having trouble with asthma and because I was breathing from my chest I was missing some of the air that I could have drawn into my lungs. Once I began doing this I stopped panic breathing and began to fill my lungs with so much air. Doing this allowed me to relax further than I had ever done before.http://www.livestrong.com/article/310564-chest-vs-stomach-breathing/

The positive effects of meditation are many. You can find yourself feeling more relaxed and it will help decrease the toll on your nerves that you experience. It helps you to raise your seratonin levels and therefore making you feel better. You can have a place that is al your own and yours to create with pure mind and pure love. You can find yourself in a state of prayer and you can feel closer to your god or gods. Many of us wish for these kinds of benefits in our daily lives and I am hoping to provide you with the means to do so for yourself. http://www.ineedmotivation.com/blog/2008/05/100-benefits-of-meditation/

Things to focus on while meditating can be as different as each individual. There are many ways to do this but I will tell you how I do it. First thing I do is turn off the phone, any and all chat boxes I may have open and just play some quiet background music with no vocals. I sit quietly and as comfortably as I can. I breathe deeply from my stomach several times to calm myself. Then I close my eyes and imagine the world the way I would like to see it. I imagine the suffering in the world is healing and that people are inherently good and peaceful people. We do not need such stresses in the world. I include all beings in my wish for a more loving world. This is just one thing that you can incorporate into your meditation. Visualize it and see it. Breathe slowly and gently and deeply over and over until you finally begin to feel that tension ebb away into nothing. I do this everyday and it has been helping me slowly. Now I look forward to doing this every day.

The joy of it all is more amazing than you can imagine. Sitting there quetly in your own mind you can do such miraculous things. See the world as you wish it to be. Take that love that you feel and let it blossom slowly outwards. Be the calm mind and the dedicated spirit of good in the world. Find that quietly at first and live your life in peace and focused calm after a while. You will notice things that perhaps you had not before. Do not worry what people think this is for you. You can do this and find a tranquil place even in the middle of the day. If you are at work and you have a break set your phone on vibrate and go to a quiet corner outside of your work maybe and do this for five minutes. Do it at your desk and do it with your eyes open and have a book in your hands perhaps and pretend to look at that and relax. There are no end to where and how you can do this.

This is part of an Osho Meditation

“Start being aware with day-to-day, routine actions, and while you are doing your routine actions, remain relaxed.

“There is no need to be tense. When you are washing your floor, what is the need to be tense? Or when you are cooking the food, what is the need to be tense? There is not a single time in life that requires your tension. It is just your unawareness and your impatience.

“I have not found anything — and I have lived in all kind of ways, with all kinds of people. I have always been puzzled: why are they tense? It seems tension has nothing to do with anything outside you, it has something to do within you. Outside you always find an excuse only because it looks so idiotic to be tense without any reason. Just to rationalize, you find some reason outside yourself to explain why you are tense.

“But tension is not outside you, it is in your wrong style of life.

Meditation postures can help you significantly on your path to learning. Remain sitting comfortably and you can focus your mind and relax. Standing and meditating can be done but it is a bit more difficult. However sometimes you must do it if you are in a subway or waiting in line. Try to focus your mind on the people around you and how their lives are much like yours. Find that which you have in common with your fellow human beings. Laying down and meditation can be done but it does tend to lead to sleep.

Meditation is free and you can do it anywhere and anytime you would like to! This is the cool part about it really. It costs nothing you need not buy special equipment or wear anything special at all. All you need is yourself and a place to sit. I add music in the background and sometimes incense to add another emotional connection to this time. The incense helps me to focus my mind and relaxing into a meditative state.

Sunday, February 17, 2013

I am writing this because I have been one that enjoys darker humor, fashion, artwork, movies and music and yet I give as much as I can of things that are traditionally positive. This post is for all of those people that are beautifully dark and macabre and yet have light hearts, actions and voices. We are not evil we just have a different way of looking at the world. We are fascinated by a spiders web or a bats wing. Negative actions can be performed by the most positive appearing person. Just as positive actions can be performed by those that adhere to a more Gothic genre.

I was still a child when I noticed beauty in things that horrified my parents. I really found things others seem to try to ignore pretty or lovely or poignant. I remember my birth mother asking me what colors I would like for my school clothes. Without hesitation I suggested purple and black. To which she responded *those are funeral colors!* so time went on and in passing the subject of flowers came up an I was asked what my favorites were and I said lilies. The response to that was a shriek of utter shock from my mother who said *Those are for funerals! What is your obsession with death ??* Personally those thoughts had not even entered my mind at all. I just knew what I liked and when asked I gave a truthful answer.

This went on throughout my formative years. My choices in music, dress, art, dance and movies were usually deemed macabre. Yet there is indeed beauty in such things. To look at a sugar skull and see anything but art or a homage to the dead ancestors of families in Mexico is odd to me. They are lovingly carved by people that believe in *The Day of the Dead* This is tradition and they do not seem afraid. Horror movies are just that to me..movies. I collect my movies and organize them and by far horror is my favorite genre. Yet in real life I would not harm anyone.

I have experimented with painting my room black to black poster board and electrical tape when told I was not allowed to paint. Where there is a creative will and all that. :) I created a dead barbie garden in my back yard in Austin Texas. I remember my landlord coming over and asking me if it was a bit early for Halloween and I said no..everyday is Halloween. I truly enjoyed creating those dolls. I used anything I could think of to design them. Nail polish, electrical tape, scissors, hypodermic needles, pins and so on. Combine that with at least five different kinds of Christmas lights or fairy lights as they call them in the UK and you have awesome! We used to go out there and talk and drink and smoke and laugh.

There was a book I read once that struck a chord in me. By an author called Konstantinos http://www.paganpresence.com/Konstantinos.html In one book he relegates humans into four categories. This is a bit of oversimplification and yet it is true. If you think of people in four basic groups certain archetypes form. Light good, Light Evil, Evil Lights and Evil Darks. These are basic concepts that almost everyone can understand.

Good-light is the soul-type that most people are really referring to when they mention or think of the concept of good. But one doesn't need to walk a spiritual path to be in this category. Anyone who is moral, loves brightness and spreads joy honestly is good-light.Some of the worlds religion founders, such as Christ and Buddha, were of this soul-type.

Evil-lightis the sinister companion to good-light and the trickiest of the four groups to identify. Those of this soul-type seem at a glance to be moral individuals. Evil-light people may gather around them all the trappings of asceticism and harmony, or just what the masses perceive as being bright and positive. But behind the facade, the evil-light have given up trying to be better individuals. Consider a corrupt televangelist. Evil-light televangelists would surround themselves with light themes and choir song, yet bilk their followers of millions, claiming that the gathered cash is going toward something other than a new Mercedes or Tudor mansion.

Good-darkwho succeed at the ultimate goal of spiritual mastery do not attract as much attention, being mostly silent about their accomplishments.Who are these good-dark? When the essence of the shadows and darkness empowers you, yet you don't feel evil, you are good-dark. Such dark tendencies may have manifested in you early in life, affecting more than just the way you dress, the books you read, and the music you listen to. Yet you do no harm.

Evil-dark, the true opposite of good-light, is the category that most people simplistically label as evil. Remember, the four categories can manifest in people in varying degrees. In the realm of the occult, evil-dark individuals can be the often harmless devil worshipers who value material goods and fun over their souls and the welfare of others, or can be the more sadistic individuals who perform black magic and human sacrifice. In the everyday world, common criminals often fit this category, although they can just as easily be evil-light

So you can see that these are basic categories and yet apply to many beings. This I look at as a guideline. I have met people that appear to be dark or evil if you like and yet do quite a bit of good in the world. Their message may seem dark but if you really pay attention what they are doing is really helpful. That is me in many ways. Yet recently I have been craving color in my wardrobe, home, food and diversity in my music as well. But deep in my heart I am and always will be that perky glitter goth that danced freely at Elysium in Austin Texas. I used to dance all night long. Yet did not hurt anyone.

So the next time you see a little dark morbid girl or boy do not assume that they are evil or intend you harm. Don't do this any more than you would ignore the man looking seemingly *normal* with bad intentions. There is no evil look, no typical criminal nor any acceptable assumptions. These people that you see wearing Marilyn Manson t-shirts are not evil or wasted. They are inspired by music or perhaps rebelling against what they see as cookie cutter people. They see the world differently but no less passionately than you do.

God I still remember being the typically dressed because I had no choice small town girl reading all the horror I could get my hands on. The librarians saved the best ones for me in a stack. In Balmorhea Texas if that little library still exists it most likely has mostly my name in the *checked-out* portion of the book. I am proud of that. I was the goth girl but didn't know it yet. Living in books and getting away from people on my bike to find solace in nature..that was me. I remember sneaking Ozzy Osbourne and AC/DC tapes from my parents. Then changing when I heard Enya and Enigma and adding this to my love of nature.

Life is funny sometimes you know? I still love the macabre art and horror movies and piercings and black and purple. I appreciate the artistic hairstyles that I see teenagers wearing now. There are still and will always be goths in this world. Now I also love Buddhism, His Holiness The Dalai Lama, Being vegan, fighting compassionately for animal rights and hugging trees. Yet given a chance I will still go to a goth club once I am near one. :) I miss those hours creating amazing art on my face, lacing up my knee high platform boots with my mad scientist coat and a top hat with my Kitty eared umbrella :D

Thursday, February 14, 2013

What is love, I believe that this particular phrase has been pondered over and over. I think it has been dissected to such a finite detail. Yet I look around me in this world and I see some people attempting to practice loving one another. I see them stumbling and falling to the ground. They reach out to feel something..something that they need.

Here is the beautiful part. Love is all around you. It is in every moment you live. It is in everything that you see and touch. Do you know how? Life is love. It is so simple. You must take the time to love yourself and that can happen in time.

I want you to remember that no matter what wrongs you have committed. No matter what wrongs you think you have committed..in the end you can be redeemed fully. You need only accept what you have done and move forward. Do not linger in the past. There is no past. There is only the present. This beautiful present that we find ourselves in. You are not a bad person in any way. We all make mistakes in life. I have made mistakes in life. None of us are left untouched by this truth.

Where we make our mistake is lingering over what we did. To make a change you need only try a different way. You need to learn to adore yourself and others. You need to look around and see brothers and sisters. They are all related to you and you to them. Regardless of color, religion, sexual preference, location, age, weight, height. None of this matters. What matters is how you love them. The joy that you show in each human being. They are we are all of us wonderful creations.

There is a chance to find happiness and you need only look as far as you. Stop what you are doing and read what I am saying. I am thirty seven years old and yet I am still learning and climbing further and further bringing as much joy and light and love to each person that I meet. Sometimes they smile in return and that is a wonderful gift. Sometimes they do not smile and may in fact give me a funny look. That too is ok. That is not something you should react to. Do you best to help others. Give good advice. Give advice you have experienced and know that is your perspective and it is valid. Just as it is valid that someone can have a different perspective and also be right.

I am enjoying this journey that I am on. I wake up with a purpose of projecting as much good into this world that I can. Until my dying day I will give to others and love them. I do not see anything but another person. I see none of these so called differences. They are superficial at best. I have friends of every possible color and identity and yet they are all humans and I love them.

You can find a happy place so to speak. I did..I wandered feeling alone for years. I was angry and heartbroken and betrayed. Yet I was living in the past. When I finally let it all go I met the love of my life. When I finally accepted that I will live right now he came to me. He is a beautiful person in every possible way. I look into his eyes and I see the light of a divine soul. He holds my hand and I feel a warmth take over my body and I feel safe. Alexi is the most wonderful man I have ever met. I would do anything to see him smile. I want him to know that he is my light. He is my cuddly kitten. He is the one I want to travel this life with. He works so incredibly hard and yet he comes home and loves me gently. He is all that is good and soft and wonderful. Yet I did not meet him until I stopped hurting myself with my thoughts.

This can apply to you. Whatever you did in your past it is over. Whoever you hurt if you can tell them that you are sorry or show them. But move on from the guilt. Accept that you have much to learn and do so willingly. Look past all that is on the surface and learn to see people instead. Look in the mirror and say I love you. Say it loud! Dance a little and realize that no matter what you look like this is how you are supposed to be. You are lovely and wonderful all on your own. There is nobody like you in the world.

Look not to television, magazines, radio, other people for validation. You do not need that. You simply are. I accept all and love all. I want to give you some insight into how. It is not going to be easy at first. But relax and breathe and know that you are love. You are the embodiment of love. You are a kind person. You really are even if you do not see it.

The Egg

By: Andy Weir

You were on your way home when you
died.

It was a car accident. Nothing
particularly remarkable, but fatal nonetheless. You left behind a wife and two
children. It was a painless death. The EMTs tried
their best to save you, but to no avail. Your body was so utterly shattered you
were better off, trust me.

And that’s when you met me.

“What… what happened?” You asked.
“Where am I?”

“You died,” I said,
matter-of-factly. No point in mincing words.

“There was a… a truck and it was
skidding…”

“Yup,” I said.

“I… I died?”

“Yup. But don’t feel bad about it.
Everyone dies,” I said.

You looked around. There was
nothingness. Just you and me. “What is this place?” You asked. “Is this the
afterlife?”

“More or less,” I said.

“Are you god?” You asked.

“Yup,” I replied. “I’m God.”

“My kids… my wife,” you said.

“What about them?”

“Will they be all right?”

“That’s what I like to see,” I
said. “You just died and your main concern is for your family. That’s good
stuff right there.”

You looked at me with fascination.
To you, I didn’t look like God. I just looked like some man. Or possibly a
woman. Some vague authority figure, maybe. More of a grammar school teacher
than the almighty.

“Don’t worry,” I said. “They’ll be
fine. Your kids will remember you as perfect in every way. They didn’t have
time to grow contempt for you. Your wife will cry on the outside, but will be
secretly relieved. To be fair, your marriage was falling apart. If it’s any
consolation, she’ll feel very guilty for feeling relieved.”

“Oh,” you said. “So what happens
now? Do I go to heaven or hell or something?”

“Neither,” I said. “You’ll be
reincarnated.”

“Ah,” you said. “So the Hindus
were right,”

“All religions are right in their
own way,” I said. “Walk with me.”

You followed along as we strode
through the void. “Where are we going?”

“Nowhere in particular,” I said.
“It’s just nice to walk while we talk.”

“So what’s the point, then?” You
asked. “When I get reborn, I’ll just be a blank slate, right? A baby. So all my
experiences and everything I did in this life won’t matter.”

“Not so!” I said. “You have within
you all the knowledge and experiences of all your past lives. You just don’t
remember them right now.”

I stopped walking and took you by
the shoulders. “Your soul is more magnificent, beautiful, and gigantic than you
can possibly imagine. A human mind can only contain a tiny fraction of what you
are. It’s like sticking your finger in a glass of water to see if it’s hot or
cold. You put a tiny part of yourself into the vessel, and when you bring it
back out, you’ve gained all the experiences it had.

“You’ve been in a human for the
last 48 years, so you haven’t stretched out yet and felt the rest of your
immense consciousness. If we hung out here for long enough, you’d start
remembering everything. But there’s no point to doing that between each life.”

“How many times have I been
reincarnated, then?”

“Oh lots. Lots and lots. An in to
lots of different lives.” I said. “This time around, you’ll be a Chinese
peasant girl in 540 AD.”

“Wait, what?” You stammered.
“You’re sending me back in time?”

“Well, I guess technically. Time,
as you know it, only exists in your universe. Things are different where I come
from.”

“Where you come from?” You said.

“Oh sure,” I explained “I come
from somewhere. Somewhere else. And there are others like me. I know you’ll
want to know what it’s like there, but honestly you wouldn’t understand.”

“Oh,” you said, a little let down.
“But wait. If I get reincarnated to other places in time, I could have
interacted with myself at some point.”

“Sure. Happens all the time. And
with both lives only aware of their own lifespan you don’t even know it’s
happening.”

“So what’s the point of it all?”

“Seriously?” I asked. “Seriously?
You’re asking me for the meaning of life? Isn’t that a little stereotypical?”

“Well it’s a reasonable question,”
you persisted.

I looked you in the eye. “The
meaning of life, the reason I made this whole universe, is for you to mature.”

“You mean mankind? You want us to
mature?”

“No, just you. I made this whole
universe for you. With each new life you grow and mature and become a larger
and greater intellect.”

“Just me? What about everyone else?”

“There is no one else,” I said.
“In this universe, there’s just you and me.”

You stared blankly at me. “But all
the people on earth…”

“All you. Different incarnations
of you.”

“Wait. I’m everyone!?”

“Now you’re getting it,” I said,
with a congratulatory slap on the back.

“I’m every human being who ever
lived?”

“Or who will ever live, yes.”

“I’m Abraham Lincoln?”

“And you’re John Wilkes Booth,
too,” I added.

“I’m Hitler?” You said, appalled.

“And you’re the millions he
killed.”

“I’m Jesus?”

“And you’re everyone who followed
him.”

You fell silent.

“Every time you victimized
someone,” I said, “you were victimizing yourself. Every act of kindness you’ve
done, you’ve done to yourself. Every happy and sad moment ever experienced by
any human was, or will be, experienced by you.”

You thought for a long time.

“Why?” You asked me. “Why do all
this?”

“Because someday, you will become
like me. Because that’s what you are. You’re one of my kind. You’re my child.”

“Whoa,” you said, incredulous.
“You mean I’m a god?”

“No. Not yet. You’re a fetus.
You’re still growing. Once you’ve lived every human life throughout all time,
you will have grown enough to be born.”

“So the whole universe,” you said,
“it’s just…”

“An egg.” I answered. “Now it’s
time for you to move on to your next life.”

And I sent you on your way.

We are everyone..therefore we must practice kindness towards everyone because we are being kind to ourselves.

Saturday, December 22, 2012

We all of us Are here to do our best to listen and learn as we go along.We have a grace and a soulful smile We bring about change every day that we liveWe have choices in what we do every moment of every dayWe all have a purpose and we should follow through with that purposeWe are not weak or strong, we simply are

Lyrics to Indigo Children :
E.M.P. from the mother and son
toward the digital down
dawned at the age of the innocent ones
the indigo children
the indigo children come
the indigo children
the indigo children come
the indigo children
the indigo children come
the indigo children
the indigo children come
the indigo children
the indigo children
when the indigo children come
the indigo children
when the indigo children come
the indigo children
when the indigo children come
the indigo children
when the indigo children come
the indigo children
when the indigo children come
E.M.P. from the mother and son
toward the digital down
dawned at the age of the innocent ones
the indigo children
analog type piece sky wide
sync to the ticker inside
move to the rhythm of the moon and tide
the indigo children
the indigo children
the indigo children
the indigo children
serious Venus and the lunar child
(get your life up untied)
giggle and the flames grow higher
dance in a circle around a central fire
(dance and laugh and love and learn. Grow higher)
the indigo children
wine, song, food and fire
clothe, shelter and seed
no more need for the old empire (there they were to the empire) the indigo children
serious Venus and the lunar child
giggle and the flames grow higher
dance in a circle around a central fire
the indigo children
wine, song, food and fire
clothe, shelter and seed
no more need for the old empire(fare thee well to the empire) the indigo children
the indigo children come
the indigo children
when the indigo children come
the indigo children
when the indigo children come
the indigo children
when the indigo children come
the indigo children
when the indigo children come
the indigo children
when the indigo children come
the indigo children
when the indigo children come
the indigo children
the indigo children
serious Venus and the lunar child
giggle and the flames grow higher
dance in a circle around a central fire
when the indigo children come
wine, song, food and fire
clothe, shelter and seed
no more need for the old empire
when the indigo children come

Strength comes from our numbers and purpose and determinationStrength is knowing that you are and using it to help othersStrength is opening ourselves up to our own inner lightWe know that all lives are precious and worth protectingWe are beyond the simple ploy of small differences being able to tear us apartWe love and accept all beings as loving and beautiful maps of light

From deep within ourselves there we will find the cooling still waters of an endless ocean of possibilityThe depths of which are endless and glorious to beholdWe carry such an abundance of hope and healing ability within ourselves, we need only pay attentionWe carry divinity and beauty in all of us. Every particle is infused with thisLay hands upon others in comfort, love, compassion, gratitude and hopeEngraved inside every part of us is a part of everything else.

We must silence the fear through living and proving otherwise, to ourselvesTake each moment and live now in it's purest formGive love and shine it outwards even to those who may seem disagreeableWe are all that is in the world, We value and cherish compassion and purity of spirit and intentionWe will grant understanding and a silent heart to listen and help heal those that approach and seek solaceWe are all growing children from the womb of creation, sometimes stumbling and yet noble purity in the end

The destination is always ahead and beyond into the light, of this let there be no doubtKnow that the purpose is to realize the connection that we all share The strings of metaphysical harp that resonates on and on forever , with joyful voicesKnow the shining glowing soul that resides within you and all thingsWe know and continue to focus on all these things to bring a more resplendent future for all beingsTouch the planet with a gentle nature and respect and nurture all life